I'm just going to add this here as the topic has changed slightly.
I personally have no interest in promoting past Pfc those who offer little to no passive roleplay. The reasoning behind this is rather simple: Half our time is spent on the ship, I'd like to know that my NCOs don't disappear as soon as the event finishes. Being an active passive roleplayer is an easy way to get on my radar.
Part of being an NCO is creating roleplay for others around you using your own creative outlets. A fact that is regularly drilled into those that hold these positions. This means that while it may have rewards to being an NCO, it also requires an OOC commitment to the server. I need to be able to trust that those who take up these positions won't require babysitting in terms of activity or attitude.
tl;dr Being an NCO is an OOC responsibility alongside being a role model in terms of roleplay standards and quality.

So, here's the deal. I have no problems with camouflaged patterns being introduced into the setting, as it's already been made clear that we are diverging marginally from current SSTRP canon and making our our setting using SST as a base.
HOWEVER. Camo patterns will be heavily regulated to avoid snowflake syndrome or deviation from the fact that we are a military RP at our hearts. Therefore, the drop leader (Sgt+) will have full digression to what camo pattern is available for said mission, barring standard federal greys. Only one camo pattern may be used per drop and it must be matching for all items of clothing, across the entire platoon. If no directive is given towards use of camo's, federal greys must be worn.
Example: Sergeant X authorises use of digital camo for this city invasion. That means you can use either FULL digital camo, or FULL federal greys. This applies to everyone on the drop, no exceptions.
This means that those who like federal greys, can always use the standard patterns, without restricting the roleplay involved with the drop leadership being able to make a tactical decision.
Those that fail to adhere to this standard will have their ability to use any form of camo revoked.

NoQuitters mod is basically a re-balance to civ5 w/ bnw to make the game fair in multiplayer. Seen as civ5 is a game that's been out forever, just wondering anyone else plays or have a casual interest in joining?
https://www.reddit.com/r/nqmod/

I'll come in on the roster question, as I'd like to think I know a little about this subject.
I'll first address the fallacy:
"People slowly but inexorably rank up"
The main reason why the roster never becomes top heavy is that rank is by no means a metric of time spent, especially the higher up the ranks you go. The simple abilities to lead and multitask are not qualities that every player will have when they come to the server. Some people are not capable of learning these skills either from our tuition, which while disappointing, means NCOship is not a path meant for them.
Additionally, the higher up the ranks you go, the more you will be required to be involved with the faction at an OOC level. Ask any sergeant. They've been asked to drop what they're doing because they're needed and get on the server numerous times. Simply, you'll have commitments that you're expected to meet.
These two points combine, so that only those who are both able to lead AND willing to commit extend periods of time will rise through the ranks.
Now to ensure that its not a pure chaos engine, the command staff spend countless hours discussing those who are promotion worthy. This ensures that the NCO pool reflects our player base size accurately.
As to:
PK's are the least common way to lose a high ranking NCO. This is because we vet our NCOs up to this point, to avoid such foolhardy deaths. Its more common that real life robs us of the player's time, so they can't be active enough to justify holding the rank.
A further note, to all those who gripe at the number of lance corporals, these are the most common military paygrades from 2013, with the study being conducted by the military times:
(http://forums.militarytimes.com/showthread.php/6857-Distribution-of-Enlisted-Ranks)
Army E-4 (30.76%)
Navy E-5 (23.13%)
Marines E-3 (27.62%)
Air Force E-5 (25.5%)
Lance corporals (marines) and specialist/corporals (army) are the most common ranks in the modern US military, which while not perfect, is a good base to model from.
If you want me to explain why this is, or why it's acceptable for SST to ever reach these distributions (N.B. we don't, grades E1 and E2 individually far outweigh our numbers for E3 - E7 combined), then I can.
As a final note, it's not an admins job to PK people to ensure the roster remains bottom heavy. PKs should only be handed to those worthy of permadeath, not under some ludicrous idea of "letting others rise up".